“Battlefield 1 beta review”
By Shaloon Xiong
In the current world of modern military shooters, it takes a bold move to buck trends. With Call of Duty heading further into the future more and more and Titanfall 2 reaching for a new future with a grappling hook, it’s perhaps strange to see Battlefield return to the past. But after playing the beta of Battlefield 1, everything starts to make perfect sense.
On the very first game in the beta, I was let loose on the desert plains, with a 32-player game of Rush, the objective-based mode first introduced in Bad Company 2. I was placed on the defending team, protecting objectives from enemy explosive charges. It became immediately noticeable that Battlefield 1 brings with it not only a different setting, but a different feeling – it’s very realistic, and everything has a weighted feel. The pace of the game is very active, as some encounters spread across the map, while others last swift moments. The Sinai Desert map, which I play a lot on, is simply gorgeous. Filled with hills, structures and choke points that make for great confrontations. The muted tones reflect the environment well, and the bleakness of early-20th-century warfare is well reflected.
The classes to choose have been tweaked too, with the Assault class becoming less dominant. You can choose between ‘Assault’, ‘Medic’, ‘Support’ and ‘Scout’, and each class has a clear role on the battlefield. The Assault class is all about the offensive, coming equipped with anti-vehicle explosives, while the Medic can keep your squad alive with restoration syringes. The Scout class is used for long-distance fighting with sniper rifles, and the Support class can hold down key positions with heavy machine guns. While I always like to play as a vehicle hunter – formerly the Engineer, now the Assault – I enjoyed my time with each class, particularly the Scout, with some pleasing headshots across the map. Each class has a degree of flexibility, and you can customize the weaponry and equipment for each class, though they each have their own unique items.
Hopefully when the time comes, it'll be a different story for Battlefield, with a large amount of stress testing planned before release. It would be a real shame to see a troubled launch like some other shooting games. This year looks to be very busy for first-person shooters, due to many new other war games coming out and so many players will find themselves with tough choices at the check-out. But at this moment in time, Battlefield 1 looks to be in a very splendid position indeed for the number one war shooting game this year.